[INTERVIEW] Joseon court dancer crossed to Paris; Pansori singer brings her home

Pansori singer Shin Jin-won brought Lee Jin, a Joseon court dancer said to have gone to Paris in the 1890s, to the stage in Jeonju on Sept. 12. She said the work grew from imagination and was expanded by director Lee Wang-soo. The performance marked the 140th year of Korea-France diplomatic ties, though it was not part of the official commemorations.

The piece was titled Li-Tsin: A Woman Without a Name and was performed at the Small Theater of the National Intangible Heritage Center in Jeonju.

Shin Jin-won performed with Lee Hee-jae, a certified transmitter of gagok, in seven scenes.

Both singers composed new music for the work using traditional grammar rather than an existing repertoire.

This year marks 140 years since Korea and France established diplomatic relations under the 1886 Treaty of Friendship and Commerce.

Published Sep 25, 2026 7:01 am KST

Shin Jin-won revives Lee Jin, Joseon court dancer known solely through French diplomat's memoir

Shin Jin-won sings the role of Li-Tsin, a Joseon court dancer who sailed to Paris in the 1890s, during the premiere of "Li-Tsin: A Woman Without a Name" in Jeonju, Sept. 12. Courtesy of National Intangible Heritage Center

Almost nothing survives of Lee Jin, the woman a French memoir records as "Li-Tsin." A court dancer in the final years of the 1392-1910 Joseon Dynasty, she is said to have sailed to Paris in the 1890s with her lover, a French diplomat, then returned to a country that no longer had a place for her.

The record rests almost entirely on a single source: "En Coree" a memoir published in 1904 by Hippolyte Frandin, France's second minister to Korea. Scholars have argued for years over how much truth there is in his account.

That patchy record is where pansori singer Shin Jin-won started, spinning a tale of a woman barely mentioned in archives.

"I suppose it comes down to imagination," Shin during a written interview with The Korea Times. "It started with imagination, and director Lee Wang-soo helped enormously in carrying it through. He expanded that world far beyond what I had imagined myself."

Shin, a transmission-certified holder of pansori — a traditional style of Korean narrative performance by a singer accompanied by a drum — performed "Li-Tsin: A Woman Without a Name" on Sept. 12 at the Small Theater of the National Intangible Heritage Center in Jeonju. Pansori is on UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The piece paired her with Lee Hee-jae, a certified transmitter of "gagok," the classical lyric song form. Across seven scenes, the two voices brought Lee Jin's life to the stage. Lee Hee-jae's masculine voice used gagok to carry ideas of memory, interiority and the passage of time while Shin's emotionally-charged style portrayed the events of her life and the emotions they provoked.

Neither singer worked from an existing repertoire. Both composed new music for the piece, built on traditional grammar.

Pansori singer Shin Jin-won, right, and gagok singer Lee Hee-jae perform "Li-Tsin: A Woman Without a Name," at the National Intangible Heritage Center in Jeonju, Sept. 12. Courtesy of National Intangible Heritage Center

For Shin, the choice of subject was not incidental. She describes a continuing interest in women who have slipped out of recorded history.

"Lee Jin was a Joseon period court entertainer, and as someone practicing this art generations later, I think bringing forgotten figures back into view and looking at them again is one of the tasks given to me," she said. Several years ago she created an audio drama about the late master singer Ahn Hyang-yeon.

"I want to convey their lives fully," she said.

She frames the experimentation as an extension of her training rather than a break from it. "I've found it genuinely enjoyable to take the tradition I've studied since childhood as a foundation and expand outward into different material," she said. "Tradition always has to be the base — I keep that in mind — but within that I'm trying new things."

The timing carries its own weight. This year marks 140 years since Korea and France established diplomatic relations under the 1886 Treaty of Friendship and Commerce, an anniversary that has filled calendars in both countries with more than 100 cultural events.

The Jeonju performance was not among the official commemorations. Shin had hoped it would be staged elsewhere.

"In this meaningful 140th year, I really wanted to bring the performance to the Korean Cultural Center in France," she said. "Or anywhere in France, if not there. It's material I'd been thinking about for several years, and since I only got to carry it out now, the performance ended up being staged in Korea in this 140th year. I would love to perform it in France one day."

The wish echoes the life of its subject. Lee Jin's crossing left almost no trace on either side of the world — a woman remembered in one Frenchman's book and, more than a century later, in a voice trained in Jeonju.

9月12日，盘索里歌手申真媛在全州舞台上演了《李真》的舞台剧。李真是一位朝鲜宫廷舞者，据说在19世纪90年代曾前往巴黎。申真媛表示，这部作品源于她的想象，并由导演李望洙进行了扩充。此次演出是为了纪念韩法建交140周年，但并非官方纪念活动的一部分。

该作品名为《李心：一个没有名字的女人》，在全州国立非物质文化遗产中心小剧场上演。

申镇元与获得歌谣传教士资格的李熙宰合作，出演了七场戏。

两位歌手都为这部作品创作了新的音乐，他们采用的是传统音乐语法，而不是现有的曲目。

今年是韩国和法国根据1886年《友好通商条约》建立外交关系140周年。

发布于2026年9月25日 上午7:01（韩国标准时间）

申镇元重现了李真——这位仅通过法国外交官回忆录为人所知的朝鲜宫廷舞女的故事。

9月12日，在全州举行的《李珍：一个没有名字的女人》首演中，申镇元演唱了李珍一角。李珍是一位朝鲜宫廷舞女，于19世纪90年代远赴巴黎。图片由韩国国立非物质文化遗产中心提供。

关于李真（Lee Jin）几乎没有留下任何痕迹，法国回忆录中称她为“李珍”（Li-Tsin）。她是1392年至1910年朝鲜王朝末期的一名宫廷舞女，据说她在19世纪90年代与她的情人——一位法国外交官——一起前往巴黎，然后返回祖国，但祖国已不再有她的容身之地。

这段记载几乎完全依赖于单一来源：法国第二任驻韩大使伊波利特·弗朗丹于1904年出版的回忆录《在韩国》。多年来，学者们一直在争论他的记述有多少真实性。

从那份零散的记录开始，盘索里歌手申真媛讲述了一个在档案中几乎无人提及的女性的故事。

申在接受《韩国时报》书面采访时表示：“我想这最终还是取决于想象力。一切都始于想象，而导演李王洙在实现这一想象的过程中给予了极大的帮助。他将那个世界拓展得远远超出了我自己的想象。”

申女士是盘索里（一种韩国传统叙事表演艺术，由歌手演唱并伴以鼓乐）的传承人，她于9月12日在全州国立非物质文化遗产中心小剧场表演了《李珍：一个没有名字的女人》。盘索里已被列入联合国教科文组织人类非物质文化遗产名录。

这部作品让她与李熙宰搭档，李熙宰是一位获得认证的“歌谣”（gagok）演唱者，歌谣是一种古典抒情歌曲形式。在七个场景中，两人的歌声将李真（Lee Jin）的人生搬上了舞台。李熙宰浑厚的嗓音运用歌谣来表达记忆、内心世界和时光流逝等主题，而申（Shin）充满情感的演唱风格则描绘了她人生中的种种经历以及这些经历所引发的种种情感。

两位歌手都没有使用现有的曲目。他们都为这首作品创作了新的音乐，但都建立在传统曲式的基础上。

9月12日，盘索里歌手申真元（右）和歌谷歌手李熙宰在全州国立非物质文化遗产中心表演《李心：一个没有名字的女人》。图片由国立非物质文化遗产中心提供。

对申而言，选择这个题材并非偶然。她表示，自己一直对那些被历史遗忘的女性抱有浓厚的兴趣。

“李真是一位朝鲜时代的宫廷艺人，作为几代之后从事这门艺术的人，我认为让被遗忘的人物重见天日，重新审视他们，是我的使命之一，”她说道。几年前，她曾创作过一部关于已故歌唱大师安香渊的广播剧。

“我想完整地展现他们的生活，”她说。

她将这种实验视为训练的延伸，而非偏离。“我发现，以我从小学习的传统为基础，并向外拓展到不同的题材，真的非常有趣，”她说。“传统始终是基础——我牢记这一点——但在此基础上，我尝试新的东西。”

时机本身就意义非凡。今年是韩国和法国根据1886年《友好通商条约》建立外交关系140周年，两国为此举办了100多场文化活动。

全州的演出并不在官方纪念活动之列。申原希望演出能在其他地方举行。

“值此意义非凡的140周年之际，我真的很想把这场演出带到法国的韩国文化中心，”她说。“如果不行，那就去法国的任何地方都行。这是我构思了好几年的作品，因为直到现在才得以实现，所以这场演出最终在韩国上演，正值韩国建国140周年之际。我希望有一天也能在法国演出。”

这个愿望与主人公的一生遥相呼应。李真横渡大西洋几乎没有在世界两端留下任何痕迹——一位法国人在她的书中记起了她，一个多世纪后，一位在全州受过训练的播音员又讲述了她的故事。